Shots across the bow: Friendly feud defining this year’s Sydney to Hobart

The rules of sailing say competitors must conduct themselves with good manners and sportsmanship. So, with tongue almost bursting through cheek, millionaire entrepreneur and LawConnect skipper Christian Beck took a shot at the man he plans to beat to Hobart.

“I’m actually pretty pissed off [at] these two skippers from [Master Lock] Comanche because they’ve copied my strategy from last year,” Beck said at a Rolex Sydney to Hobart press conference on Tuesday. “Last year, I did nothing and let the pro crews do it, and won the race. These guys, in all these lead-up races, they’re doing nothing ... and they’re winning.”

Seated to his right, unsure whether to smile or scowl, was James Mayo, co-skipper of Comanche, the fastest yacht in the fleet that somehow lost to Beck by just 51 seconds last year. Seconds earlier, Mayo said that this year’s race was going to be “a real dog fight”.

“We’re all good friends but, you know, the gloves are off once we get across that start line, I can assure you of that,” Mayo said.

The two 100-foot yachts are the most competitive in the race, having finished first and second in 2023, 2022 and 2019. Their skippers also have the most to lose. For Comanche, last year’s was their race to win, but after a dramatic overtake by LawConnect just metres from the Derwent River finish line, they were relegated. LawConnect is fighting to retain its title and prove its colourful owner’s friendly fire is fair game.

The shot Beck took at Mayo and his co-skipper Matt Allen, while clearly intended to just scuff his opponents’ ego, is far from well-founded. Mayo is a two-time world champion, and took both line honours and overall winner in the 1987 race, and Allen has won three of the 31 Hobarts he’s raced. Neither man is dispensable.

Christian Beck and James Mayo, the skippers entering a “dogfight” for the 2024 Sydney to Hobart line honours trophy.Credit: Aresna Villanueva

“The way I see it, when you race these boats, everyone is vitally important,” Mayo told this masthead. “Getting 100 per cent out of each person is critical to getting the boat there first. So, I don’t really focus on too many comments of Christian’s.

“Our boat has got people who have won the Hobart multiple times ... there are a handful of world champions on the boat, Olympians. We’ve got crew that have raced around the world several times and won. They’ve been involved in America’s Cups. That pressure ... we’re used to that every time we go racing.”

It’s not only the other competitors Mayo and Allen have to think about, they must also contend with the weather. Beck thinks this could prove Comanche’s undoing.

“It’s good for us because from our point of view, the harder it is, the better [LawConnect is] against Comanche because they’ve got a much better boat,” said Beck. “The more that can go wrong, the more helpful that is for our odds. So I’m pretty happy.”

Mayo, Beck and the Illingworth Cup, the prize given to the first over the line in Hobart.Credit: Rhett Wyman

While the start of the race is forecast to have favourable conditions, with north-easterly winds pushing the fleet towards Tasmania, a south-westerly trough is set to hit the race hard in the early hours of Friday morning, bringing thunderstorms, wild waves, and gale-force winds.

“[LawConnect and Comanche] are very similar conceptual boats. Theirs is about four tonnes lighter ... it’s kind of better in virtually every way,” Beck said.

“So the problem we’ve got is that in a straight-out, easy race, they’re going to beat us, but when it’s harder, there’s more to go wrong. More likely of damage. More likely that they make a strategic mistake. More likely that they have arguments among the crew.

“They probably don’t like me saying it, but I think what’s really happened is that me and those two Comanche skippers have sort of become sailing bullshitters. We don’t actually do much sailing, we just talk to the media.”

James Mayo, co-skipper of one of the fastest maxi yachts in the world, Master Lock Comanche.Credit: Rhett Wyman

Talk to the media he does. LawConnect run a sophisticated operation, with its own media team offering photo opportunities and interviews to journalists at the drop of a hat.

They run a live-stream from the yacht via Starlink during the race and have become known for holding a company lottery that selects employees at Beck’s organisation to join the crew even if they have never sailed before.

On the other boat, Comanche’s media representative is co-skipper Allen, who seemingly takes a mediator role between Beck and Mayo.

“We’re just trying to make it entertaining,” said Allen. “We’re good mates behind the scenes, but he doesn’t mind a little wind-up in front of the cameras.”

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